Russia dismissed rumors on Thursday that it would offer political
asylum to embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as a "joke."

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“It is either an attempt to mislead serious people dealing with
foreign policy or a lack of understanding of Russia´s position,”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said of the rumors.

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Lavrov said the issue of political asylum for Assad first came up
during talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Berlin last month, adding that it was
first raised by the German side.

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“Our delegation took it as a joke and responded also with a joke: Why
don´t you, Germans, take Mr. Assad if he wants to go somewhere?”
Lavrov said during a joint news conference with German Foreign
Minister Guido Westerwelle.

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Lavrov added, “I was very surprised when, during my recent contacts
with my foreign colleagues, when we were discussing the Syrian issue,
I heard that they are convinced that we will take Assad and thus
solve all the Syrian people´s problems."

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He added that Moscow would host Abdelbasset Sida, the new leader of
the main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National
Council, and prominent opposition activist Michel Kilo next week.

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Russia has consistently shielded Assad´s regime, which it has
billions of dollars tied to in oil and military contracts, from
international calls for his ouster or direct intervention.

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The permanent members of the UN Security Council agreed at talks last
week that a transitional government should be set up in Syria to end
the bloodshed rocking the country, but at Russia´s insistence did not
call for Assad to step down.

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Assad has waged a bloody 16-month crackdown on a popular uprising
against his family´s decades long rule, leaving at least 16,500 dead.

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Nonetheless, a mounting insurgency by the rebel Free Syrian Army -
comprised of some 30,000 army defectors - has turned Syria´s popular
uprising into a full-blown civil war and brought the fighting to
Assad´s stronghold, Damascus.